


Paper trails (Rhack)

by Jack_lo_da_weeb



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Borderlands: Borderlands 2, Boss/Employee Relationship, Boyfriends, Fluff and cute Rhack, Friendship, Gay, Gay Panic, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Office Supplies, Post-Borderlands 2, Rhys is Handsome Jack's Personal Assistant, Rhys is a cute awkward lanky bean and we love him, Secret Crush, Tales From the Borderlands, very gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26236846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jack_lo_da_weeb/pseuds/Jack_lo_da_weeb
Summary: Rhys keeps finding notes on his desk every morning when he comes into work. After a week he starts to investigate who the person sending the notes is. They start giving him clues to their identity and he must follow the paper trail to find his secret admirer. Little does he know that the person sending the notes is the man he had been obsessed with for years.*disclaimer*I don't own borderlands or any of the characters mentioned in this fan fiction.
Relationships: Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 40





	1. Love letters

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Rhack fan fiction. It will be in 2 maybe 3 chapters. If this does well I might make a sequel. I've only written one shots before so this is new. Please give me feedback xx

It had been a long morning, getting to his office had been a nightmare and he'd had to deal with his boss giving him crap about being a few minutes late. Rhys was barely awake when he finally got to his desk with a cup of coffee.

He was a middle manager at a company called Hyperion run by his idol, Handsome Jack. One day, Rhys aspired to run Hyperion just like Handsome Jack but for now he had to do the shit ton of paperwork his boss just dropped on his desk.

The stack of papers were piled up high on his desk and he couldn't even see over them. Letting out a groan, Rhys picked up a pen and got to signing the papers without really reading them properly. Usually he would take extra care with papers but he was just too tired this morning. With all the trouble and his lack of sleep from the night before he just couldn't focus.

"why do we even have physical papers to sign? People do know that computers exist right?" Rhys said to himself as he moved another few papers to the signed pile. Just when he thought things were the worse they could be his pen slipped through his fingers and rolled under his desk.

Too lazy to reach down and pick it up, he just opened his desk drawer to get a new one out. Then he spotted it, a small piece of paper with a couple of words scribbled down in sharpie.

Rhys saw his name on the corner so he picked it up and read out loud,  
"I saw you working yesterday, you look so adorable when your all busy and focused."  
He stared at the note in disbelief. Was this some kind of joke? Who would leave notes like this in his desk? As far as he knew nobody he worked with was that bothered about him.

As odd as it was Rhys just chucked the note aside and played it off as some kind of prank from one of his Co workers. He needed to do his work and had no time to think about stupid little notes.

As time passed the note had completely slipped his mind and it was time for him to leave. Just as he picked up his bag, the note fell off his desk. Unsure of what to do with it, Rhys picked it up with his mechanical arm and shoved it into his pocket before leaving.

~____ next day ____~

"I'm telling you it was probably just a prank Rhys," Vaughn said as they walked in the direction of the cafeteria to grab some breakfast before work.  
"OK but it might not be! Yeah the message was really dumb and corny and sounded like a five year old wrote it but it might be real!" Rhys exclaimed, "I could have a secret admirer."  
"Calm down Rhys. Don't get ahead of yourself," Vaughn replied, "besides don't you have better things to think about rather than some note in your desk? You're still working on that promotion right?"  
"I know but if this note is real, I might be getting a promotion to boyfriend," Rhys said with a sarcastic smirk.  
"Seriously bro just stop,"  
"What that was a good joke"  
"don't embarrass yourself Rhys"

They bought some food and ate in silence before Rhys stood up.  
"I better head to the office before my boss gives me shit again," He yawned.  
"Do you still want to meet up with Yvette and me for drinks after work?" Vaughn asked.  
"Depends how I feel. I've been really tired lately and I think I'm going to try and get an early night."  
"OK but the offer is still there if you change your mind. Later bro."

Rhys arrived at his desk with 10 minutes to spare and decided to kill some time by scanning random things with his echo eye for his amusement. Scanning his coworkers desks was always fun as he got to see what they were hiding in there. Usually it was just pens and stuff but occasionally he'd find the odd adult magazine.

His eye flicked over his own desk briefly and he saw the outline of a piece of paper in his desk draw.  
"Another note?" He thought to himself.

He refocused his vision and pulled open his desk draw to find another note. It was the same paper as yesterday and the same handwriting. This time it had a few more words written on it.

"I see you got my note yesterday. It sounded pretty childish. Do you think so too? Well anyways just wanted to let you know that you look pretty good today. Saw you in the cafeteria with your nerdy friend with the glasses. Have a good day xx"

Rhys' heart jumped as he read the words over and over. Surely this person wasn't just messing with him as he'd suspected. He pulled his metal hand up in front of his face and used it to video call Vaughn.

"Hey bro I found another note!" He said excitedly.  
"Oh great so why are you telling me?"  
"well you're the smart one so tell me what to do! I'm freaking out here!"  
"ugh Rhys I have a job you know. Just find out who the person is and confront them. I'll help you when I'm on break until then I have to work, my boss is coming over so I have to go."

Rhys sighed and put the note in his pocket with the other one and tried to get back to his work but his mind was far away. Someone was sending him love letters and he didn't know who. The thought of someone caring about him so much made him so happy.

~__________________________________~

(Jack's POV)

Ever since he'd first met Rhys when he'd came to drop off some papers for signing he'd been interested. It was unusual for him to have such deep feelings about another person but he felt something he'd never felt before when Rhys was around.

Of course they'd only spoken a few times when Rhys would have to come and drop of papers or collect papers but Jack always took great pleasure in those few short conversations they had. Usually it was Jack saying sarcastic comments and Rhys getting very awkward but it was sweet.

When he wrote the first note he was debating whether or not it was a good idea. He couldn't tell Rhys outright how he felt, he needed to keep his dignity. If he just told Rhys how much he liked him he would lose face and that was not something he was willing to do.

Over the past few weeks he'd been carefully studying Rhys' activities so he knew when to plant the note in his desk. Before 9am was his best option so he went down to the floor where Rhys worked and slipped the note into his draw before anyone else had arrived. He was considering taking the note away since it was stupid and pathetic but he heard voices and had to get out of there before he had time to grab the note.

From his office, he watched Rhys through the surveillance cameras. He loved watching Rhys, the way he sat and the way he was always so focused on his work. Everything about this man was perfect to him. Then he saw Rhys reading the note. He saw a little smile on Rhys' face and his heart literally melted. If he was going to see that smile from writing notes then a few more days worth of notes couldn't hurt.

Before Jack knew it, it had been two months and he'd been writing notes everyday sometimes even slipping into the office at lunch breaks to leave an extra note. Each note becoming increasingly loving and somewhat suggestive.

He was writing out his next note when he realised he could make Rhys follow a trail of notes that lead him right to his admirer. Watching his cute little cupcake (as he'd started calling him in the love letters) run around chasing him sounded very appealing. So he drafted up a note with clues to who he was and kept it until the next day when he could slip it into Rhys' desk.

"Let the fun begin." he said as he watched Rhys open the note through the CCTV cameras.

(an: this was very fun to write. Please leave feedback. I don't ship Rhack but I got this idea and wanted to write it. Check out my wattpad account. My username is Jack_Lowe) 


	2. Found out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys finds out who his secret admirer is with the help of Vaughn and Yvette. Jack gives Rhys the promotion he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been inactive for a while.  
> I've been stressed during lockdown and have had to do loads of school work.   
> I'm off school for a while now so the next chapter will be much quicker.   
> Thanks to everyone who reads this.   
> Your support is everything to me, you have no idea xx

It was very late at night or very early in the morning. Rhys was awake and making himself another cup of coffee. He stumbled back over to his chair and collapsed into it.  
Why did he care so much about the stupid notes?   
He'd been trying to find the admirer for weeks now and found nothing! Even Vaughn hadn't got a clue and he was supposed to be the smart one.   
Rhys sighed before taking a sip of coffee and picking up the pile of notes from his desk and scanning them with his echo eye.   
He thought of all the work he had to do tomorrow and the crap he'd get from his boss if he turned up late and contemplated going to sleep.   
"No I can't yet! I have ages left to sleep and I just know I'm going to figure it out at any moment."   
The harder he focused the sleeper he got and before long he was face down on his desk. 

He woke up the next morning to the sound of Vaughn knocking loudly on his door.   
"It's open!" he shouted sleepily.  
"Hi Rhys. Umm... You know it's lunch time right?"   
"what? SHIT!"   
Rhys stood up and knocked the coffee from the night before onto the floor.   
"Fuck! Vaughn can you grab me some clean clothes out of my room whilst I clean this up?"   
Rhys was scrambling around to find something to clean the coffee up with when he felt a hand on his shoulder.   
"dude just take the day off. You seem stressed and these notes are making you crazy! Me and Yvette are worried about you."   
"no I need to get this promotion. I need to get to the office and make up for being gone this morning."   
"Rhys just sit down, I will tell your boss that you're sick so you can get your head together and actually do something productive."   
Rhys calmed down and flopped back into the chair.   
"I don't deserve you Vaughn"   
"tell me about it"   
They chuckled as Vaughn began to leave.   
"oh Rhys," Vaughn stopped, "my boss said that his boss was given this letter from his boss' friend that needs to go to you."  
"What? Nevermind, thanks anyway." Rhys said as he took the letter. 

Vaughn had been gone for an hour before Rhys finally opened the letter. He assumed it was just some work stuff but after pulling the paper fully out of the envelope he saw the same beautiful handwriting he saw on all of the notes. There were just a few words written on the paper and they made his heart jump.   
_taking the day off cupcake?_ 

Jack's pov

It was just another day for Jack and he'd been running a little late in the morning as he'd spent the night dealing with fuck ups his assistant had made. And, let's just say, they were no longer Jack's assistant. 

He realised he was too late to put today's note in Rhys' desk when he got to the offices and the desks were occupied with workers. He saw Rhys' boss prowling around the office.   
"excuse me but have you seen the hot tall guy that sits over there? He's called Rhys."  
"no he hasn't been here today. He's been looking rather ill recently though. He's probably ill. Not supprised with how hard he's been working to try and get a promotion."  
"Oh OK well do you know where he is?"   
"no sir but may I ask why you need him?"   
"No you may not."   
Jack grabbed the man by his collar and pushed him to the floor. Stuck up pricks like that really pissed him off.   
"Oh well," Jack thought, "I can get a note to Rhys another way." 

Rhys POV

Vaughn's shift finished ages ago and he was supposed to meet Rhys in the cafeteria after work. Finally he showed up and sat down opposite Rhys.   
"sorry I got held up. Anyways, it's nice to see you out of your apartment. Why did you want to speak to me?"   
"Well that letter you gave me, it was the same person that is sending me the notes."  
Vaughn suddenly was very interested in the conversation.   
"OK what did it say? That could give us a clue as to who it is."  
"I thought you said I should forget about the notes?"   
"Yes but now I'm involved and you obviously won't sleep until you figure it out. Also, Yvette found a list of my boss' boss' friends and one of them asked to give you the letter so we have a lead."  
Rhys got very excited and almost squealed in public.   
"OK come back to mine and we can work together on this. You invite Yvette and I'll get us coffee."

Rhys was ready to investigate and had all the notes and the letter laid out on his desk which he had hastily cleaned.   
"we're here bro." Vaughn yelled as he walked into the apartment.   
"hey Rhys, I haven't spoken to you in a while." Yvette said.   
"hi you guys. So Yvette, Vaughn said you have a lead?"   
"Oh nice to see you too, " she replied sarcastically, "and yes I have a list of 200 people who could possibly have sent the letter."   
"OK so if we just need to look at their timetables first to see who has an opportunity to put notes in desks." Vaughn said. 

Jack's POV

It was hard to do his work without an assistant. Usually he would just shout them to do his paperwork and get him food and stuff but since he killed the last one, people were hesitant to take the job. He sighed and thought of a perfect plan.   
He would make his little cupcake Rhys his new assistant. How hilarious it would be for Rhys to be running around for him and having no idea that Jack was the one sending him notes.   
He smiled at his own plan and chuckled cunningly.   
It was perfect.   
Now he had to set it up. 

Rhys' POV

"What? Who's assistant?"   
Rhys was stood in front of his boss, wide eyed and shocked.   
"Handsome Jack. You start this morning," his boss replied, "Now quit gawking and get your stuff together, He doesn't appreciate incompetence which includes being late."

His first instinct was to call Vaughn but he'd taken the day off to continue researching their leads on the admirer. They'd crossed 150 people of the list but had hit a dead end. 

"Rhys pull yourself together!" his boss shouted.   
"I'm sorry I'll just grab my stuff."

Rhys walked down the busy corridors with his possessions in a box. Was this really happening? He was going to be working with his hero and one of the 50 remaining suspects for the secret admirer? It was more than Rhys could handle. 

He arrived outside Jack's office and cleared his throat before knocking on the door. After a moment it opened and Rhys saw his hero sat in a large chair with his feet up on his desk.   
"Hey pumpkin. Can you just put your box of crap or whatever on that desk and then come over here?"   
Rhys was a little starstruck yet he did as he was asked and walked up to Jack's desk.   
The doors were shut now and they were completely alone.   
"umm... Hi," Rhys murmured.   
"Don't be so worried kiddo. Your boss told me you're a hard worker who's smart and apparently a fan of me."   
"Well..... I.. I do alot of work yes but.."   
"relax. As long as you do your work we'll be fine," Jack said, "for now just get comfortable at your desk and wait for me to tell you to do something."   
"umm.. Actually Handsome Jack..."   
"Just call me Jack kiddo."   
"Oh OK well Jack my boss asked me to bring these papers to you as I was coming here anyway. He said he needs them signing by the end of the day."   
Jack took the papers from Rhys' hands and began signing them without really looking through them.   
Then Rhys caught a glimpse of the handwriting, there was no mistake, he'd found his secret admirer.   
He felt a warm glow in his chest and waited until Jack had finished writing before smiling and saying,  
"Thanks for the notes Jack, they've made my day for the past 2 months."  
Then he walked out leaving Jack slightly surprised and impressed. 

Jack's POV

Rhys left the room leaving Jack alone with his thoughts.   
"OK well the little shit figured out sooner than I'd imagined. Well I guess this could make life more fun for the both of us." he thought whilst spinning gently from side to side in his chair, feet still on the desk. 

Rhys came back into the office and smiled at Jack who gave him a wink before saying.   
"Well done cupcake, you figured me out. Now the real fun begins."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for being so inactive and slow on the updates. The next chapter will be up by the end of February.  
> This chapter wasn't the best but the next one will be good I promise.   
> Leave constructive criticism in the comments xx

**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned for part two.  
> Stay safe and keep washing your hands xx  
> Hope you're all well (✿╹◡╹)


End file.
